Join the Team Scenario How

Join the Team Scenario

How will the coed softball team jell given the personalities on the team that have been brought together through volunteer sign-ups after the idea was developed by the HR manager and senior vice president? Using Bruce Tuckman's Four Stages of Group Development, this paper projects scenarios resulting from those four stages.

Forming Stage: as Patty, Larry, Jesse and Pam, agree to participate in the softball team, each has a different reason for wanting to participate. They are colleagues at work, but they have not necessarily interacted with each other on the job and they certainly have not as yet jelled on the field of dreams (softball field); it remains to be seen how well this will work out. According to Tuckman's four stages, in this first one the individuals will be testing one another, gathering information about each other's skills in softball and each other's motivation for wanting to play on a coed team. All four understand that part of the reason the HR manager and senior VP have opted to create this activity is based on "teambuilding," a popular and worthy way management creates dynamics for teamwork that can pay off in the workplace.

Storming Stage: Patty is a great softball player, a confident individual who has a need to be known and recognized in the company, so she goes totally overboard in practice sessions on the softball field. She dives for hard liners to her left and her right getting her uniform dirty; she deftly scoops up ground balls and fires hard to first base with brutal velocity. But the HR manager, playing first base, can't handle the bullets she throws over there and complains. "Hey Patty, lighten up on those throws, this isn't the World Series for crying out loud." Larry, out to prove he is the leader, yells at every miscue he witnesses while pitching. He yells at Jesse, who is so heavy around the midsection he can't bend all the way down to pick up ground balls: "Hey Jesse, if you can't pick up the grounders maybe you should play catcher." Larry knows Pam has the eye out for him -- and he just broke up with a long-time relationship, so he could use some romance -- so when Pam drops an easy fly ball, he shouts, "Hey, that was close Pam! No worries! Nice try!" Seeing how mellow Larry is when he responds to Pam's flubs, Jesse is irritated, red-faced, and more aware than ever that he is grossly fat. Under his breath Jesse casts verbal aspersions at Larry, and because Larry has a keen sense of hearing, Larry realizes that he has angered Jesse but he doesn't care; for Larry, it's all about ego and power. He glares at Jesse.

Norming Stage: The HR manager and VP hold a short meeting after the second Saturday practice. They now have recruited a few more players and there is a sense that the team will actually come together and players will not pick on one another. This practice is much smoother. Pam and Larry had a lunch date in the week between practices and she graciously asked Larry to lighten up on Jesse. "It's sad to see a guy who is already down, shoved down further," Pam told Larry. "We need him on the team, Larry; he's a good guy," Pam added. Larry agreed, and made another date with Pam for the Saturday night following their first game. After practice, the HR manager and VP order pizzas for a little post-practice social gathering, and it's all smiles.